The Family Illustrated Bible

New Leaf’s recent republication of DK’s The Children’s Bible is visually stunning.  It has tons of original artwork, and there are some great little “factoid” pages about Biblical times and the effects that God’s people had on other cultures.

But there are a lot of negatives about the book as well.

Jesus said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”  (John 5:39-40)

Any Bible translation or paraphrase Bible that doesn’t point to Jesus as the way, Truth, and the life isn’t worth picking up.  Unfortunately there is enough secular influence left over from its previous incarnation in this version to make these stories seem more like fables of bygone days rather than an introduction to the Living Christ.   Just one example of this would be the inclusion of the Gospel of Thomas in the discussion of gospels written by Christ’s disciples, which has been ruled a Gnostic heresy from its inception.

There are two children’s Bibles I would recommend instead of this one The Children’s Bible by Golden Books (if you can get past the blond Jesus) and The Picture Bible by Iva Hoth and Andre Le Blanc.  These are both much better options.

Overall, I was a little disappointed.  I’ve really been enjoying New Leaf’s books lately, and while this one had excellent production quality, it was lacking in power and Christ-focus.

I don’t think I’ll be giving this one to my son anytime soon. 

I received this book from the publisher for review.  All opinions are my own.  

Chuck Swindoll’s Paws and Tales: Putting Others First

This DVD features two brand new episodes from the Paws and Tales animated series.  In the first episode C.J. and Staci learn the value of helping others in need even if doing so interrupts our plans.  The second episode teaches C.J. that even when those in power seem to hold all the cards, talking to our Father can bring everything back into balance. 

The lesson in the first episode seems a lot clearer than the second, but both are good stories that teach children right from wrong according to godly principles. 

Overall, I really enjoyed watching these two stories with my son, who is two.  The concepts may have been above his head, right now, but the story certainly kept his attention, and but soon he’ll be able to apply these lessons to his own life. 

If I had to look for things to critique, there would be two main areas: quality and scripturally. 

The quality was not at all comparable to other titles available, secular or Christian.  The animation is stiff.  Chuck Swindoll’s glasses and outfits sometimes reflect the green screen behind him, so at times parts of him disappear into the computer generated background.  The songs in the extra features are catchy, but the videos are just clips from the episodes haphazardly edited together without any context to the words of the songs.  And finally, the DVD case is pretty Plane Jane. 

The other area I thought was lacking was that there wasn’t a lot of scripture to cement the lessons being taught.  Maybe Chuck Swindoll could have done some easy teaching at the end to show why these things are important from God’s perspective, or at least a memory verse a la Veggie Tales.

Overall though, they were fun stories and would be worth picking up if you’re shopping for some children’s programming with a good message.

Buy it now: $10.99

I received a copy free from the publisher.  All opinions are my own.  

Dragons: Legends & Lore of Dinosaurs

By Master Books

Every culture from the beginning of civilization has had stories of dragons, and while some of these cultures attributed magical powers to these creatures, many of them listed them in ledgers alongside real animals.  Dragons asserts that these creatures may have indeed been real.  The book also makes the assertion that the term dragon may be synonymous with the dinosaur.  The book collects various accounts of dinosaurs through the ages, including a few recent urban legends.  I was also surprised to find that the Bible mentions dragons as real creatures 21 times. The format of foldouts and pullouts is geared towards juvenile reading, but I would rate the reading level at 5^th grade or above. 

While I do find the commonality of the dragon legend to be an interesting feature of ancient cultures, I can’t say that this book did much to advance the argument of their existence at least not in a scholarly sense.  They ask the right questions, but the evidence presented is not altogether coherent or authoritative: Wikipedia was quoted on a couple of occasions.  Add to these damaging features a text that wasn’t proofread completely with many glaring misspellings and grammatical errors, and Dragons falls even further down the ladder of academic study.  The biblical references raised that bar tremendously, but the scholars involved could have done much better.

All that said, make no mistake, Dragons is an extremely entertaining read if you like dragon stories, and I look forward to my son reaching an age where he’ll enjoy it.

I received a review copy of this book from the publishers.  All opinions are my own.